Named for Lake Michigan,From a French spelling of Old Ojibwa Algonquian-meshi-gami, meaning big lake

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(A Continuation Of All 50 States Map Names Actually Mean) Montana: From the Spanish word montaña, meaning "mountain, which stems from Latin mons, montis. U.S. Rep. James H. Ashley of Ohio proposed the name in 1864. Nebraska: From a native Siouan name for the Platte River, either Omaha ni braska or Oto ni brathge, both meaning "water flat." Nevada: Named for the western boundary of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, meaning "snowy mountains" in Spanish. New Hampshire: Named for the county of Hampshire in England, which was named for city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun, meaning "village-town." The surrounding area (or scīr) became known as Hamtunscīr. New Jersey: Named by one of the state's proprietors, Sir George Carteret, for his home, the Channel island of Jersey, a bastardization of the Latin Caesarea, the Roman name for the island. New Mexico: From Spanish Nuevo Mexico, from Nahuatl (Aztecan) mexihco, the name of the ancient Aztec capital. New York: Named in honor of the Duke of York and Albany, the future James II. York comes from Old English Eoforwic, earlier Eborakon, an ancient Celtic name probably meaning "Yew-Tree Estate." North Carolina: Both Carolinas were named for King Charles II. The proper form of Charles in Latin is Carolus, and the division into north and south originated in 1710. In latin, Carolus is a strong form of the pronoun "he" and translates in many related languages as a "free or strong" man. North Dakota Both Dakotas stem from the name of a group of native peoples from the Plains states, from Dakota dakhota, meaning "friendly" (often translated as "allies"). Ohio: Named for the Ohio River, from Seneca (Iroquoian) ohi:yo', meaning "good river." Oklahoma: From a Choctaw word, meaning "red people," which breaks down as okla "nation, people" + homma "red." Choctaw scholar Allen Wright, later principal chief of the Choctaw Nation, coined the word. Oregon: Uncertain origins, potentially from Algonquin. Pennsylvania: Named, not for William Penn, the state's proprietor, but for his late father, Admiral William Penn (1621-1670) after suggestion from Charles II. The name literally means "Penn's Woods," a hybrid formed from the surname Penn and Latin sylvania. Rhode Island: It is thought that Dutch explorer Adrian Block named modern Block Island (a part of Rhode Island) Roodt Eylandt, meaning "red island" for the cliffs. English settlers later extended the name to the mainland, and the island became Block Island for differentiation. An alternate theory is that Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano gave it the name in 1524 based on an apparent similarity to the island of Rhodes. South Carolina: See North Carolina. South Dakota: See North Dakota. Tennessee: From Cherokee (Iroquoian) village name ta'nasi' of unknown origin. Texas: From Spanish Tejas, earlier pronounced "ta-shas;" originally an ethnic name, from Caddo (the language of an eastern Texas Indian tribe) taysha meaning "friends, allies." Utah: From Spanish yuta, name of the indigenous Uto-Aztecan people of the Great Basin; perhaps from Western Apache (Athabaskan) yudah, meaning "high" (in reference to living in the mountains). Vermont: Based on French words for "Green Mountain," mont vert. Virginia: A Latinized name for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. Washington: Named for President George Washington (1732-1799). The surname Washington means "estate of a man named Wassa" in Old English. West Virginia: See Virginia. West Virginia split from confederate Virginia and officially joined the Union as a separate state in 1863. Wisconsin: Uncertain origins but likely from a Miami word Meskonsing, meaning "it lies red"; misspelled Mescousing by the French, and later corrupted to Ouisconsin. Quarries in Wisconsin often contain red flint. Wyoming: From Munsee Delaware (Algonquian) chwewamink, meaning "at the big river flat."